So How Bad Did I Screw Up??

This might get a little awkward...

So way back before anybody had played a meaningful game, I took my best guess at figuring out who was going to suck and who was going to have a good season. This is difficult at best. Right after the draft, mostly everybody's team looked good on paper (except one), so I was basically picking out of a hat.
But we here at ALSAP are not above seeing our faults, so let's take a look back at the first edition of the Power Rankings, and compare them to where everybody stands now. Feel free to point and laugh where necessary. We'll go in the exact order of the playoff seedings for convenience's sake.

1. Rich (Preseason #1)
Well, well, well. Maybe I'm not so stupid. We're off to a good start. Maybe I overvalued Reggie Bush, but I'm still happy I nailed the #1 team.

2. Jordan (Preseason #11)
Well now! That feeling didn't last very long, did it! In my defense: 1) He's the second seed due to winning his division, which is a technicality, 2) He traded for Peyton Manning, which drastically altered the future of his team. Still, I was way off on J-Ying. Although I did say Benson would stink and Winslow would be a stud.

3. Shawn (Preseason #4)
Not too shabby. I like the prediction I made on Moss here: "Randy Moss is either totally washed up or about to cement himself as a top-tier wideout. If he can't be a playmaker in New England, then he can't make an impact anywhere. I like this team's chances though." You see how I didn't commit so I could be right either way? That's seasoned journalism.

4. Hefty (Preseason #2)
Another pick right in the ballpark. I overestimated how good LT, Palmer and Steve Smith would be, but I severely underestimated how good Adrian and Braylon would be. So it evened out.

5. Slimmy (Preseason #7)
Nice call on Larry Johnson sucking. I'll admit, this team ended up being way better than I thought. The only reason I didn't put Paul lower is because I didn't want it to look like I hated the Davis Bros. It didn't work; this ended up happening a few short weeks later.

6. Aaron (Preseason #5)
OK, I'm actually pretty impressed with myself at this point. This team was underwhelming at times, but did enough early in the season to grab a playoff spot. I still say it's 1-'n'-Dun for A-Rep.

7. Craig (Preseason #8)
Nailed another one. Had I any idea that Vince Young would stink worse than a proctologist's fingernails, I would have had this team down in the double digits. At the time, I had been playing massive amounts of Madden with the Titans, and worshipped the ground VY walked upon.

8. Adam (Preseason #12)
OK, I was definitely wrong on this one. I thought Adam would have to wait a long time before anybody took the Manning/Brady bait, and it turns out he was able to do this fairly quickly and turn the team around. Nicely done, sir.

9. Mike (Preseason #6)
I bought into the Kitna hype. The wheels fell off that bandwagon pretty quickly, didn't they? The early Deuce McAllister injury was pretty devestating, too.

10. Shelby (Preseason #9)
Right on. I thought Edge James was washed up, but he ended up with a nice year. Same with Favre. How exactly did you finish out of the playoffs? You had the #4 QB, #4 and #9 RB, #6 TE, #2 D/ST...what the hell happened here? Oh, I've got an idea. You also had the #1 waiver spot all freaking season long. Next year try making a move or two.

11. Dave (Preseason #3)
Yikes. Way off on this one. Chances are that I wrote this column after a cuddling session on Poodle Beach. Because I don't know how I didn't see the warning signs here. Here's what I wrote on Dave's first two picks: "Steven Jackson and Drew Brees are arguably top two at each of their positions. That sort of thing comes in handy. " Yes. It would have come in handy if it were true, but it was actually a giant bag of hideous lies.

12. Melvin (Preseason #10)
I hated Ronnie Brown, but he ended up being one of the only bright spots of the season for Melvin. See, even when I'm right, it's for the wrong reasons.

So there you have it. I have to say I didn't do too badly. If I could have swapped Jordan and Dewaan, I would have been amazingly accurate. Since that's the case, I owe it to you to offer my playoff picks.

Round 1:
-Junk Jabbers def. MPJs
-Bear Grylls def. McLovin
-Cripplers def. Dizeez Nuts
-Death Knell def. Kim Jong Il

Round 2:
-Bear Grylls def. Junk Jabbers
-Death Knell def. Cripplers

Finals:
-Bear Grylls def. Death Knell (Championship game)
-Junk Jabbers def. Cripplers (3rd place game)